Easy as Four Plus One
by Neverland's Kitsune X
Summary: Because Sakumo Hatake had chosen not only his teammates over the mission, but simply both, creating a landslide of events that would all backlash upon one Sakura Haruno. Sakura-centric. Swearing and violence. Non-massacre. Non-Kyuubi Attack. Or, that one AU where everything works out except for Sakura's childhood.
1. Chapter 1

Because Sakumo Hatake had chosen not only his teammates over the mission, but simply both, creating a landslide of events that would all backlash upon one Sakura Haruno.

* * *

I was confident in me, I was confident in my goals, I was confident about my IQ score, my memory, and really fucking confident about my judgement of character.

So really, when Inner told me these people were fucking wusses, it's not like it was anything new.

" **You could always use them as test subjects for that new genjutsu we sneaked a peek at in the library,"** Inner suggested cheerfully, having little to no concerns over how that would either land me a severe talk-down from higher-ups, or simple land me in an interrogation room for even knowing about the _existence_ of this certain A-rank genjutsu as a civilian orphan.

'Nah, not worth it.'

" **Yeah, they are pretty weak,"**

'Said as if we're not still in the academy with them.' With a roll of my eyes, I began to walk away, back to the red lights district.

" **Cha, we're so much better that them though. C'mon, admit it Kura-chan, they wouldn't last an hour in our shoes. Especially when it gets dark at night…"**

… Not exactly something I could easily argue with …

"Hey, I'm not done talking to you yet Forehead!" An angry voice screamed after me as I picked up the pace.

Annoying little girls had no place in my busy schedule tonight.

* * *

" **Busy schedule, huh?"** Inner snorted. I ignored the voice in my head that almost definitely made me certifiably crazy and continued to watch the streets from my place in the alley behind a dumpster.

'This is the only way I will allow myself to earn money, so _yes_ , I'm busy.' I commented calmly, sparing a glance behind me to watch the backdoor of whatever seedy establishment it belonged to slamming open. Two intoxicated figures stumbled out, helping to 'get the spinach out of each other's teeth' and making extremely disgusting noises as they did so.

Hopefully my target would show up before clothes started coming off.

* * *

Sometimes I wonder how things ended up like this. What if my parents had been civilian instead? What if they hadn't gone on a mission that sent them back with enough injuries to last them the rest of their lives, eventually killing my father and turning my mother insane? What if my mother had been stronger, not so much of a coward, what if she hadn't committed suicide, leaving her body to hang from the makeshift execution grounds in our living room? What if the orphanages were kinder to me, kind enough to prevent my mind from splitting and to stop me from running?

The idea of 'What if?' haunted me.

" **What if you start paying more attention to our food ticket and go kick some ass?"** Inner jolted me out of my musings, albeit in a softer voice than usual. I glanced up, nodding to myself as my hands began to form the needed seals. The faint scar of fingernails along his right hand in a jagged 'x' matched up, along with the description of him being a blond about 5 foot 5.

Without another wasted second, I pounced, hands already slammed into the last hand sign.

" _ **Did you honestly believe you could get away with it?"**_ I spoke with a dry, raspy quality added to my voice with some help from Inner to match my henge of a 6 foot tall, male brunette with a wicked scar crawling down his face, starting just under the left eye and slicing through the cheek to pass lips and curve under the chin.

"W-Wh-" The target stuttered, trying to back away from me. I gripped the front of his shirt, getting right up close to him and _snarling_.

" _ **The ladies of Saku Hana House weren't pleased with your actions. I've been sent to make sure you recompense them. Do not take it as a warning when I tell you to do this willingly; this is a threat,"**_ And now it was the simple matter of getting the amount of ryo the sucker didn't cough up before and returning to my clients so I could get my cut of the money.

As I performed these acts with little awareness for my mission at hand (something I left to Inner for the most part), I sneaked a glance over to the alley I was hiding earlier, confirming my suspicions.

Clothes were most definitely coming off.

* * *

"Your runner girl has returned, and your runner girl is _starving_ ," I announced, pushing open the back entrance to one of the more respectable brothels in the red light district. This certain door led to the laundry room upon where two girls were in the process of making out on top of the humming dryer. They turned immediately when the telltale creak of the door sounded

"Kiko-nee-san, Ruka-nee-san," I acknowledged with an informal nod.

"Hello Kura-chan. Lily-onee-sama should be in her office. Nice to see you back so soon. Easy run today?" Kiko smiled at me, warm brown eyes somehow managing to still look kindly at me in my hand-me-down hoodie and baggy sweats. She giggled when Ruka smacked a loud and sloppy kiss onto her cheek, resting her head on Kiko's shoulder. Ruka offered me a wave.

"Kura-chan, which ninja moves did you use today? Also, please tell me you got more of those candies," Tucking a lock of her blonde hair behind an ear, she raked blue eyes over the storage scroll in my hand as if she had x-ray vision that could answer her sweet tooth questions.

"No ninja moves beside henge today, it was only a simple supply run and a matter of one target. Besides, how often do I use other 'ninja moves' anyways? The main three I use for targets are the Academy trio," I shrugged, stuffing my free hand in my pocket and leaning back on my heels. Ridiculously soft, silken looking black hair flowed like spilt acid as it tumbled over Kiko's shoulder. She gave me another kind smile.

"Mmm, in any case, I must get ready to go now. You as well Ruka, don't whine or look at me with those puppy eyes. Come on now, besides Kura-chan having to meet with Lily-onee-sama, we have to finish the rest of the laundry load. We'll see you around Kura-chan,"

With a grace I envied deeply, she slid off the dryer top effortlessly. I mainly envied that because of my short legs. Stupid height. I would have had at least a foot until I touched the floor, but noooo, Kiko is a slender beauty whose feet dangles mere inches above the ground from her dryer perch.

I ignored Inner's amused sigh, smiling at the two girls as I passed them on my way up the few stairs to a long hallway. Turning left and walking straight down to reach the office of the Lady of the House, I swiftly began praying to increase my chances on leaving unblemished.

That turned out to be a futile effort as twenty minutes later after emptying the storage scroll of groceries, some pads and tampons, a pair of geta, and the money retrieved from a previous client of the House who didn't pay fully, I exited Lily's office with a bright red lipstick kiss on my right cheek. Whilst I appreciated her giving me this job and enjoyed the affection from time to time, I preferred hugs over such... loud markings.

" **Admit it Kura-chan, we're suckers for any kind of nice attention at this point,"** Inner snickered, practically floating in euphoria as she redirected some memories around of hugs and head pats and fond smiles.

'Yeah, we are. Weird, I feel like crying at the idea.' I sighed quietly, slipping out to the bustling streets of the red light district.

The walk back to my empty, empty apartment was silent.

* * *

I don't make friends in class. I tried to, I tried so very hard to in the beginning, all throughout my first year I would play nice and genuinely hope to make a friend so I would feel not-so-alone anymore.

I tried, I failed _(jeering playground taunts, cruel kids with sharp words, the little orphan girl who wanted to be a ninja, who had stupid-ugly-gross pink hair and a big forehead, who was unlucky enough to be in the same class as clan heirs and children of_ legends _, she was the target, always the target without fail, vulnerable and weak and-)_ , and I fucking gave up.

Now I walked to school alone, ate lunch alone, and virtually everything I did was by myself.

" **You ever look at our life and just feel sad?"** Inner remarked, barely veiled conceit in her voice, which isn't saying much seeing as she's a voice in my head, but anyways…

'Yup. Alright, time to actually focus. Spar evaluations today, I think there's a tournament too. Important taijutsu grading for our last exams before graduating.' I smirked, glad I had something to look forward to. Not only was I an excellent paper-ninja _(tying with Sasuke Uchiha for top grades, which was also really important for my tentative scholarship at the Academy to begin with)_ , with all the physical work I've done in odd jobs for Lily-san and some other clients, my strength was something to be proud of.

Plus I loved the fact that fighting dirty was an actual _style_ , and damn, I was freaking _good_ at it. Hair pulling, fingernails finding very uncomfortable orifices on faces, dirt thrown up into eyes, and below the belt low shots. The first was extremely effective against many females in my class, as the last was respectively for the males. 'Below the belt' means quite literally for me, _right_ below the belt.

Keeping that in mind, I was merrily waiting for my name to be called up so I could be pitted against another of my female classmates in an extreme show of sexism that had separate tournaments for the genders, leading up to a 'final battle' between winners from each side. Kind of understandable, without some heavy training, there was a snowball's chance in Suna for a girl to win against a boy at this age in a taijutsu spar.

Of course, seeing as I did have some… 'training'...

" **Ouch, and Hinata's poke of death just took down Fuyuki, but if we get the Poker later, try for her right and our left, looks less guarded. In the other ring, looks like Kiba managed to down Choji without Akamaru's help. Not as if Akamaru could have helped seeing as technically Kiba's not supposed to bring his ninken in training to the Academy anyways, but you know, there's still a little yappy puppy right there on the sidelines. Mmm, doubt Kiba's actually going to win the whole thing on that side though, it's basically always a fucking coin flip between Naruto and Sasuke,"** I mentally nodded at Inner's observations whilst making some of my own. I got the feeling Hinata's winning streak would soon be cut off by Ino, and in this elimination style of fighting, I would most likely meet the blonde at the final bracket. I shook myself out of my thoughts as Iruka called me over to fight Ami.

" **Ahhhhhh, yes, this will be fun,"** Inner cackled madly, practically radiating smugness. I almost felt bad for killing her glee.

'Nope, can't go flashy all out until the end. Need to save the stamina. I'm doing this fast.' With a seemingly innocent smile, I held up a hand in the Seal of Confrontation, glad it was Iruka and not Mizuki who was supervising the girls' spars. At least this was a competent teacher who knew to jump back as soon as possible.

Really, you get dirt in the teacher's eyes _one time_ and all of sudden Mizuki's more frosty towards you. His fault for not evading fast enough, and he's somehow a chuunin?

"I'm going to enjoy beating you Forehead-Girl," Ami sneered, tossing back her purple hair. She raised her own hand in the Seal of Confrontation, and we were off with the drop of Iruka's hand.

I was suddenly so, so grateful that these were 'everything taijutsu goes' spars because I had been _dying_ to get my hands on her stupid hair for weeks. The shinobi-wannabe thought she could cut my hair all uneven with a kunai and a planned bathroom ambush, did she now? Ha, she didn't manage to cut anything, and just out of spite, I asked Kiko to give me a haircut the next day (because you do _not_ let Ruka near your hair with scissors, that was a mistake I made once and only once).

Letting her charge me with her fist pulled back, still a good seven feet away, I subtly slid my right foot back, bending my knees. Just as she got close enough to loose her punch, I sprang, shoving my knee into her stomach and greedily fisting my hands into soil after falling back into my previous stance. Not even bothering to aim for her eyes, I simply threw my right hand full of dirt at her, clumps falling around her body. With my left hand still holding another grasp ready, I leapt forwards once more as Ami rapidly went from shock at her dirty figure to rage and a healthy dose of fear across her face as she tried to get into a stance and back away from me at the same time.

It didn't work out for her.

Dirt was rubbed very rigorously into her hair by my left hand as my right hand grasped for only a few strands of her hair, yanking _hard_. (Because I learned it always hurts more the fewer strands in your grip, how do you think I fucking _learned other than experiencing it myself._ )

"A-AHHH-" I kneed upwards into her stomach, cutting off her scream into a pitiful gasp for lost air.

"You could always yield now before I decide to end this with your face in the mud puddle Akamaru left by the tree," I murmured just close enough to her ears so she was the only one who heard.

Watching her eyes widen, I released her and jumped backwards to place my hands in my hoodie pocket calmly. I raised an eyebrow, almost smirking at how she flinched. As she stuttered out a surrender, I nonchalantly lifted my hand in the Seal of Reconciliation, waiting for her to complete it. I finally let myself smirk when she flinched again, letting Iruka lead her away and give her permission to find a bathroom to wash up in. Ignoring Iruka's disappointed look at me, I rejoined the rest of my female classmates to watch the next match.

 _(No, of course he would be the one supervising the girls' spars, Mizuki wouldn't have spared another glance at me, but_ Iruka _is hellbent on values of kindness and comrades and the idea that your genin team will become your second fucking_ family _, what else would he be other than disappointed in me?)_

So I lied to myself that I didn't care about never knowing what having a first family was like to start with.

Inner was silent once more as the feeling that made me want to throw up and cry returned.


	2. Chapter 2

Shisui arrived just in time, toting his younger cousin along for the jutsu. With a happy pat on the back for himself, Shisui once more felt gratitude for Shunshin. His trademark ninjutsu had brought him to the Academy mere moments before his younger cousin's younger brother's spar against what looked like a dirty, pink-haired fairy (technically Itachi and Sasuke were something more like a third-removed aunt's brother's nephews…? but who cared for schematics?).

With a nod to one of the Chuunin Academy teachers standing at the edge of the field, Shisui took a seat on the tree branch he had landed on. He didn't bother suppressing his chakra, more for the Academy instructors' sakes than anyone else's. Not a good idea to scare the already on edge teachers. They had an especially large class this year with mostly main clan heirs to boot.

"Aww, lookie that 'Tachi-chan, little Sasu-chan's going to fight a girl. How Mikoto-baa-chan's youngest son has fallen," Shisui mimed fainting dramatically from his perch in the tree as Itachi ignored him. Shisui was quickly brought back to serious when he felt Itachi subtly tense beside him.

"Tachi?" He questioned softly, eyes already beginning to check the surroundings for what may have put his cousin on edge.

"The girl… Sasuke explained the tournament to me yesterday. Elimination style, taijutsu only with no style restrictions, dividing the genders, and a final match between the best from each," Itachi compulsively leaned forwards to get a better look. The spar was starting.

"And Naruto-kun's on the sidelines with a fading bruise mark…" Shisui commented, suddenly understanding why Itachi was wary. He rarely saw Sasuke's Academy class, but he was certain there were at least two female clan heirs in there.

So who was this strange girl with pink hair and no discernible clan relations that made it into the finals with his cousin?

"Maybe she got lucky and took out a tired semi-finalist?" Shisui shrugged, daring to look away from the two tiny figures circling one another below to watch Itachi's micro expressions.

"Hn," Itachi merely continued his hawkeyed assessment of the match.

A second later and the girl's body tensed, springing her forwards into battle.

"Her name is Sakura Haruno. And when I first told her no style restrictions for the spars, and this must have been two years ago, the first thing she did was grin like a maniac," A spiky haired Chuunin spoke up to them from below their tree. Shisui vaguely connected the scar across the bridge of his nose to the name 'Iruka'.

"Is her fighting style dangerous?" Itachi asked, nodding in approval when the girl- Sakura- had turned out to be feinting her frontal assault, causing his brother to jump back as was appropriate in a situation as such.

"In… a way. So far today, she's sent three girls to the bathroom, two because she ruined their hair and clothes, and the last one because Sakura somehow incorporated _psychological abuse_ into her tactics, passing it off as simply passive aggressive taunts, and eventually leading to her opponent having a tantrum and sobbing uncontrollably," Here Iruka shuddered a bit. He hadn't signed up for placating crying girls and was eternally grateful that the young girl's friends had taken hold of the situation. "Her preferred… 'taijutsu' style can only be described as 'brawling'. She may fight dirty, but she is above average in all her classes and grades, minus teamwork and sportsmanship."

"I like her already, but wow, her genin team's going to have tough time with her," Shisui remarked with a smirk and eyes slowly brightening with another of his plans.

"Do not stalk the pre-genin girl Shisui," Itachi calmly warned his cousin with his eyes still locked to the spar. They were still circling each other, but Itachi was able to see the girl's muscles loosen as if in relief, and knowing that if he from his perch in a tree could see that, Sasuke could as well. No doubt his brother would try to take advantage of the relaxing girl. Itachi wasn't wrong when seconds later his brother darted forwards, fist cocked back to attack-

Only to get a painful knee in the stomach as the girl swept to Sasuke's side, just barely dodging his punch. Itachi realized it must have been her strategy to push the younger Uchiha into an action he wouldn't be able to recover from quickly, taunting him to make the first move with her supposedly let down guard. He settled back to continue watching the fight intently.

This led to his quiet acknowledgement of the girl falling apart when she proceeded to fist his brother's hair and tug him backwards. Itachi admitted it was a good tactic, humans have less balance when pulled back rather than pushed forwards, but it was an underhanded tactic nonetheless. At least the Academy instructor Iruka saw it for what it was.

"Wow," Shisui could only manage a single word as the little girl he had compared to a fairy only minutes prior, completely _wrecked_ his younger cousin.

Once Sasuke had been thrown off balance, his hands scrambling to loosen Sakura's hold on his hair, Sakura kicked at the back of his knees, effectively ensuring his downfall. In less than three seconds, she had released one hand to pummel Sasuke with a haymaker in his stomach.

"Another girl Sakura was matched against earlier nearly threw up from a similar move," Iruka noted with a bit of unease.

"Ouch," Shisui winced in sympathy. Itachi didn't comment, the only sign he was still watching the match with them being his slightly more narrowed eyes.

As Sasuke fell, his hand snagged onto Sakura's ankle, tugging her foot out from underneath her just as he landed roughly on the ground. Sakura took advantage of his figure on the ground and went with the tug, stepping onto Sasuke's stomach with her other foot. Without any fanfare, she proceeded to drop to one knee, hitting him hard in his gut to expel whatever air he may have had left in his lungs from his crash and wrenching his hand off her ankle in the process.

"Now I wish I had brought a camera," Shisui remarked offhandedly as Sakura grabbed both of Sasuke's hands and pulled them above his head in a position that indicated the spar was over.

Itachi kept silent, eyes still cast suspiciously over the girl with pink-hair who had defeated his brother with such ease. With the teacher's assessment of her, along with Shisui's and his own, he was in agreement with them.

Her genin team would have a hard time with this girl.

* * *

"Team Seven will consist of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha-" Here Iruka had to pause as the sunshine blonde climbed onto his desk and whooped long and loud about being on his 'blood brother's team'. Similarly, beside him, Sasuke sighed a long sigh of deep suffering and slowly covered his eyes with a hand.

Iruka nearly flinched when predatory eyes from the majority of the females in the class suddenly turned their attention to him. He supposed it was only to be expected when the son of the Yondaime and the second Uchiha heir were placed together on the same team. It was no secret that these two boys had become a beacon for classroom oglings and crushes, disrupting many lessons and distracting many of the future kunoichi.

So it was with a bit of schadenfreude that Iruka announced the girl to be on their team.

"And Sakura Haruno!" He had to yell over the joyous cries from Naruto and the intense whispers and prayers from the girls.

Instantly, the room froze. It became silent enough to hear the slight buzzing from Shino's jacket and the tiny 'yip!' from Kiba's hood. In unison, Naruto and Sasuke slowly turned their heads to the very back of the class where Sakura sat, now with a slightly irritated expression on her face. They both shivered as a shadow was cast ominously over her eyes.

"Well _fuck_ ," She said, just before everything blew up in her face.

* * *

Sasuke wondered if there was a way to disown his cousin. Just kick him out of his life forever because _no Shisui, laughing at his predicament wasn't helping in the slightest._

"Y-You got the pink fairy who beat you up in the spars as your _third teammate_ , that is _hilarious_!" Shisui fell over backwards from how hard he was laughing. Itachi grunted from next to him, nudging his face away with an elbow.

"It would be wise to establish closer bonds with her in the interest of your team as a whole," Itachi advised, trying to ignore the flames of schadenfreude Shisui was currently feeding into a forest fire as he derived in intense amusement from Sasuke's life.

He could admit to a bit of ironic humour himself. It seemed that 'Sakura' was one of the few girls without a crush on Sasuke or Naruto, but was also infamous in her class for not cooperating correctly in teams. Itachi thought it would at the very least teach his younger brother tolerance for future missions with even worse teammates.

"Hey, look on the bright side, at least she's not a fangirl Sasu-chan," Shisui sat back up, making sure to ruffle up Sasuke's already spiky hair.

"Thank goodness for small mercies," Sasuke groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "Naruto's bad enough as he is. He's been trying to make friends with her, asking questions about her and if they could go get lunch together as teammates but she just… brushes him off. It's kind of weird now that I look at it. Who wouldn't want to be in good standings with the son of the Yondaime?"

"That does sound suspicious but not enough to warrant real concern. Maybe she's fatally shy or just plain out not interested in politics," Shisui threw his head onto Itachi's lap, curving an arm around Itachi's bent knee. "What do you think about her 'Tachi?"

"She will be your teammate little brother. I stand by my previous assessment and advise you to be courteous towards her. Shisui, please remove yourself from my legs." Itachi stared down at his older cousin, resisting the urge to just shove him off as Shisui turned over to look up at Itachi.

"Nope. Also, bring the little fairy over sometime Sasuke, I wonder if she'll be immune to _my_ Uchiha charms." With a saucy wink and finger guns, Shisui began to plot the downfall of Sasuke's genin days, starting with getting the new girl in on his pranks.

Sasuke wouldn't know what hit him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

I was furious, and I had full rights to be. Inner sighed softly, directing my thoughts into the past hour.

 _A man with silver hair, a mask covering half his face, and his hitai-ate slanted over his left eye finally walked into the room. Following him was another man, this time with raven hair, his hitai-ate tied on his forehead, and an eyepatch over his left eye as well._

" _Yo. My first impression of you guys is I hate you-"_

" _Hi there kiddos, this old man is Kakashi Hatake and I'm Obito Uchiha. We'll be the jounin instructors for your_ official _genin exam, and if you pass, your new team members. This team is set up a bit differently because it may have five members instead of the usual four, so everything's really touch and go at the moment."_

" _Hey Obito-nii, Kakashi-nii! No wonder kaa-san told me not to worry about my team's leaders tomorrow," Naruto grinned happily from next to me. Sasuke grunted something like an acknowledgement from his place on Naruto's other side, his head still resting on the desk. Not as if I could blame him, the jounin were hours late._

This wasn't fair, I had a right to be angry right now, this wasn't fucking fair.

" **Few things tend to be fair in our lives Kura-chan,"** Inner snarked, bitterly shoving another memory from this afternoon forwards.

" _Wait… WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE HAVE ANOTHER TEST?!" Naruto screamed, jumping onto the table._

" _Now that we know everyone's names," Kakashi spoke, ignoring the loud blonde. "We'll be meeting at Training Grounds 7 tomorrow at six, and yes, in the morning Naruto, to conduct the last exam that will determine if you become true genin or not,"_

" _Oh, and don't eat breakfast unless you plan on throwing up kiddos!" Obito clapped his hands together with a smile as Naruto fell back into his seat with a whine._

" _Aw, come on! What about my morning ramen?" Naruto groaned. Sasuke sighed, finally lifting his head from the table._

" _Tch, kaa-san planned on making my favorite breakfast tomorrow too. I guess I'll ask for her to make my favorite dinner tonight instead," Sasuke grumbled halfheartedly._

" _Oooh, Mikoto-baa-san's cooking! Save me some Sasu-chan!" Obito grinned at his relative (with a clan name, it's not hard to connect the dots)._

" _You're my cousin, you live in the same district as us, and you spend most of your time in that guestroom anyways. It's like you live in the same house as me at this point, just come downstairs for your own food," Sasuke shot back._

" _Ah, and Naruto, Kushina's exact words were 'That little brat better not expect to get out of cleaning his room just because he graduated from the Academy yesterday!', so you're going to have to finish that tonight if you don't want her locking you in your room tomorrow morning," Kakashi announced lazily, his only visible eye locked onto a bright orange book I hadn't seen him take out from any pocket._

" _Ehhhh? Isn't that Pervy Sage's book? I'm telling kaa-san that you're reading that in front of me again unless you help me clean up my room!" Naruto grinned evilly, rubbing his hands together at his plan._

" _While this looks like some_ great _bonding time between you four, is that is? Final genin test at six o'clock, Training Grounds 7, eat breakfast at the risk of throwing up," I ground out from my teeth in a near hiss, already standing up and ready to leave._

" _Ah, yeah, I guess that's pretty much it. The most important parts I mean, there are still the details about percentages to passing and-" I cut Obito off, moving towards the door he was blocking in long strides._

" _W-Wait, how about we go and get ramen together as teammates Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried after me, the clatter of wood scraping against the floor alerting me to him having stood up._

" _Great, yeah, yeah, math or whatever. No thanks to the ramen. Goodbye," Slipping out from the narrow opening left between the door and the doorframe, I started out in a sprint down the empty hallways._

"I'm so done with this stupid emotional shit, what the fuck me, get yourself together," I whimpered, a hand pressed desperately against the backdoor of Saku Hana House. A deep, ragged breath was dragged out of me as I slumped against the cold metal of the door. I couldn't feel it through my forehead protector I decided to actually use like it's namesake.

" **Yeah, what the fuck Kura-chan, as if this is going to stop us. Get your shit together. Come on, lock it up, I'll play the persona if you don't think you can right now,"** Inner offered graciously. I nearly accepted, but stopped myself.

"No… I need clarity right now. I need ice-cream. I'll check on the ladies later. Finish the memory," I directed softly, pushing myself away from the door.

" **You've always been one stubborn bitch Kura-chan. It's going to bite you in the ass one of these days, no doubt."**

" _Sakura?" A concerned voice called out just moments before I crashed into someone. I leapt back as soon as I regained my footing, hissing as I slid down with my back against the hallway wall and my knees bent._

" _Sakura? Is something the matter?" I glared up at Iruka, poor Iruka-sensei who probably never dreamt of this day when Sakura Haruno lost her calm, lost her temper, the control that controlled and defined_ me _._

" _Liar, you're a liar," I spat, still glaring up at him, fingers curling into claws by my side. A pinched look formed on his face, his eyebrows furrowing as he obviously tried to figure out how to deal with this- with_ me _._

" _Can you specify what I've done wrong?" He tried to quirk his lips into a smile, beginning to crouch down to my level. I shot up onto my feet before he could, a hand on the wall behind me steadying me._

" _You said your genin team will be like your family. You practically preached about the idea of the comforts found in having a team. And for some fucked up reason, I actually started to believe you somewhere along the way," I growled, anger and disgust warring against one another in my chest and making me feel like throwing up again._

" _Too bad my team was already a family before I got to them, and now I'm just the outsider in a game of political chess."_

 _With that parting statement, I whirled on my foot and finished my sprint down the halls and out the doors, ignoring Iruka's shout of my name, ignoring Inner's soothing monologue about how we would find comfort at Saku Hana, and definitely ignoring the telltale wetness I felt along my cheeks._

" **Get three scoops of chocolate bliss and then some dango and tea. We deserve it after this day, dammit,"** Inner grouched. I wasn't about to argue with me, so I set off to achieve endorphin levels purely based on chocolate.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Shisui felt justified in his eyes and thoughts wandering away from his cousin's dango obsession. He loved Itachi, but he was concerned about how much dango the younger male seemed to consume on average. Just watching him eat made him feel queasy. Plus a head of pink hair had come through the doors just moments ago. Now how many people in Konoha had pink hair?

"Yo, you, miss with the pink hair, over here!" Shisui called, lifting the hand not cradling his chin up to wave her over.

"Shisui," Itachi mumbled a half hearted warning, although knowing it was already futile when the girl began walking towards them.

"Hm? Customers of the nee-sans? I don't pass along messages anymore, had to stop when one of them went veering off 'subtle' and into 'vaguely threatening' stalker territory. Man up and talk to her yourself if you're going to confess your undying love or some other stupid way of saying you want to have sex without paying up," The little spitfire said, her eyes looking over the seven plates of dango on the table before slowly looking back up as if to recheck it was only two people who had ordered it all. She raised one pink eyebrow when neither male had spoken after a minute of silence.

"Huh?" Shisui blinked rapidly, wondering how the conversation turned so weird, so fast.

"Kinda curious though, who's your usual? If you visited last night… not Kiko-nee-san or Ruka-nee-san, they were performing together in the lobby. Got a load of tips too, men are fucking perverts, all they did was kiss a bit-" Shisui quickly cut her off, finally getting an abstract idea of where she had led their talk.

"No no no no, I haven't been to any brothels and neither has Itachi as far as I know. Also, why have _you_ been in one? Aren't you like, twelve?" Shisui questioned, narrowing his eyes at the young girl.

"Mm… right… anyways, if you're not customers, what did you call me over here for?" Sakura shot back, skipping over his questions.

"Nope, we're going to do introductions first! Sit down Sakura-chan, and lemme tell you a story all about me-" Shisui turned sharp eyes onto Sakura when she jolted and slid her hand towards her kunai pouch.

"How the fuck do you know my name?" She growled, emerald green eyes narrowing. No longer playing around, Shisui noted.

"Shisui, that's enough. I apologize for my cousin's improper actions Haruno-san. I am Sasuke's older brother, Itachi Uchiha. This is our cousin Shisui," Itachi cut in smoothly, maintaining eye contact with Sakura until she let her hand fall back to rest against her side and not lingering near the sharp weapons she undoubtedly had.

"I'd say nice to meet you but I just spent four hours of my life that I'll never get back sitting in a classroom because both our jounin instructors are either idiots who can't tell time, or they did it to piss us off," Sakura monotoned, making sure she wasn't letting her gaze drop back to the dango.

"I believe one of them is another Uchiha. Obito-san, correct?" Itachi asked politely with a flicker of amusement as he watched the girl physically struggle to not look at his dango.

"Yeah, and he was playing cyclops with the other guy, Hatake-san," Sakura finally gave up, rolling her eyes. "Hey, while I'm not opposed to having a chat with you guys, at least let me place an order. I came in here for food, not to play into another round of politics. At least your clan's not the entire fucking village."

"Politics? What's that supposed to mean? And I'm sure Itachi wouldn't miss a few sticks of his dango. Just take my tea too, I haven't touched it," Shisui gestured towards the full table with a nod as he slid closer to the window for Sakura to sit next to him.

"Uh, thanks, but I have standards," Sakura deadpanned with a long side glance over to Shisui before gingerly sitting at the very edge of the booth. She made a point to push the cup of offered tea back over to Shisui's side of the table, ignoring the dango completely.

"Yes, most people feel that way around my cousin," Itachi nodded gravely, adding to his growing pile of empty plates and skewers with another clean stick.

"I feel like I should be offended right now. Did you two just doubly offend me within five minutes of knowing each other?" Shisui drew back with a hand splayed over his chest.

"Haruno-san, what did you mean when you referred to our conversation as a 'round of politics'?" Itachi questioned smoothly, ignoring his cousin with many years of experience.

"It's rather simple from my point of view. You've got a powerhouse in Naruto, tactics in Sasuke, and the jounin are obviously connected on a personal level with the two, making it easier to teach them and turn them into a poster team for Konoha with massive destructive qualities. This is all, of course, not even _mentioning_ the amount of political power their team will have. I'm just the standard 'throw a kunoichi in their team so we can say we've got gender equality' for this. The political aspect is also, kind of about my own status. Hey, can I really have some dango?All I've eaten today was some ice-cream," Sakura asked, eyes gazing longingly at the plate of hanami dango set out.

"Of course Haruno-san. Shisui will pay for us. Do you mind explaining what were you referring to when you spoke of your status?" Itachi slid the plate towards her, once more ignoring Shisui's protests.

He felt no need to challenge her first words; it was true that the team his little brother was on was bound to become (in)famous whether they would have liked it or not. They already were with two jounin senseis, not even having to name them for it to be some juicy gossip starter.

"Mm, sweet, sweet dango. Thanks. I don't mind telling you, not as if it's a secret anyways. Simply put, I'm an orphan without any clan relations or immediate family-" Sakura jolted back when Shisui suddenly lurched upright, slamming his hands down on the table whilst half turning towards her with a cold, analytical gleam in his eyes. She carefully calculated the likeliness of being forced to use a dango stick to fight him off and the chances of Itachi restraining his own cousin.

"You're a twelve year old orphan without any clan affiliations and graduated as the top kunoichi of your year, and that was all before you just got put on a team with Konoha's Jinchuuriki who is the _son of our current Yondaime_ , a son of the _freaking Uchiha clan's main family_ who is expected to inherit the Uchiha Police Force, and to top that off, you're being taught by jounin Kakashi Hatake and Obito Uchiha, each with at least fifty personal enemies and a few dozen more political ones, _don't you recognize what this means?_ " He practically growled, eyes narrowed and teeth grinding together. Sakura chanced a quick look over to Itachi, noting with caution that he was suddenly two shades paler and much stiffer than before.

"It means," Sakura winced as the table actually creaked from the force Shisui was pressing down on it. "I'm going to get a big target in neon colors slapped on me because I may end up as their weakest link and therefore most suitable to kidnap and threaten. However, it should also mean that an outright attack on me will be twisted into an attack on my team and Konoha for the publicity's sake, so at least I'll be avenged…?"

Itachi blew out a deep breath, reaching for his cup of tea. Shisui did the same, finally easing up on the poor table. He gave Sakura a wry grin as he sipped from the delicate porcelain.

"I feel like I may need something stronger than tea right now," Shisui sighed tiredly, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"... I've got a few bottles of sake, the good stuff now, mind you, hidden under the floorboards in my closet. I'm not opposed to sharing, 'sides, Kiko-nee-san said I can't drink alone, something about situational awareness and legalities," Sakura added hesitantly, still unnerved from Shisui's outburst and now ready to jump away if the situation called for it. Her entire posture began to slump, shivering slightly as Shisui chuckled. Itachi took careful note of how her posture reflected those of others around her, possibly more for their sakes than her own.

"If the offer still stands when Itachi's done with his dango, we'll take you up on it," Shisui replied with a cheerful smile.

"Mm. My sake though, so I'm drinking too," She looked over them with a critical gaze, almost challenging them to deny her.

"And don't think for a single second I won't have a way of defending myself," She muttered under her breath, too low to hear for a normal person.

Itachi and Shisui, however, were shinobi who could channel chakra to their ears and hear it being said in perfect clarity.

Itachi bit back a sigh and took another bite of his dango. Sakura's single stick of dango had been finished earlier, the stick joining the others on the pile of empty plates. She was making no other move to take another, despite how her appetite couldn't have been so easily sated. He wondered if the alcohol was a way of her saying 'I'm indebted to nobody, especially not you after a single stick of dango' mixed with a large dose of 'fuck this, I can handle myself'.

Shisui just lamented over the tiny girl who looked like a fairy but was a far cry from her counterpart in children's storybooks, the ones who would smile and dance in rings and delight in their immortalities.

 _This was a fairy,_ Shisui mused, _But not a storybook one. This fairy is mortal and not afraid of it. She's twisting it to her advantage while taking every step like she expects her next to be her last._

Shisui wondered how Sakura would fare on a team with four somebodies who had all found reasons to live. Maybe they could help her find one for herself.

And hey, if they didn't, then Shisui saw no problem with stepping up to help as well. Heck, he'd even try to rope Itachi into it, and wouldn't that be fun?

(Not to mention great blackmail material.)

* * *

 **Aww, you guys are so nice! Thank you to all the reviewers, followers, and favorites. My inbox is so happy and full now. w**

 **I will, hopefully, have another chapter up by the end of the week. A little hint about it: more of Saku Hana, mainly Lily and Ruka, and Sakura's apartment appears, yay!**

 **Lily is one of my favorite OCs to write for in this fic so far. You'll see why soon. ;3c**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Ladies, I'm back! Is anyone free for a chat at the moment?" I called out cheerfully as I entered the lobby with two Uchihas in tow and a henge applied over myself.

Ruka looked over to us from her low table, pausing in pouring tea for her customer to shoot 'Kura-kun' a flirty smirk. I hadn't done too many changes to my body in my henge, there was no need to. I made myself around my late teens or early twenties (height, yes, good), male, and brown hair. I kept my eyes though, Emiko said they helped affirm it was me, plus according to her, they looked 'hot' with my disguise. I was lucky my hair was short enough to not have to alter drastically besides coloring.

"Kura-kun, I'm sure Lily-onee-sama would be happy to receive you," She practically purred, eyes carefully dancing over to the males behind me. Bright blue eyes widened in faint disbelief before becoming neutral once more.

"Ah, would these be your guests or shall I offer the House's services to these two now Kura-kun?" Ruka asked neatly, sliding her eyes over to me and slowly setting down the teapot.

Folding her hands in her lap, she tapped out a code only I could see from my perspective up front, the standard code Lily had taught all her employees, and eventually, me. There was a reason Saku Hana had such a good reputation amongst whorehouses and prostitutes, one of them being the treatment of workers. (It's reputation amongst the red lights district in its entirety… that was a rep earned through means more dependent on the ladies here.)

'Trouble?' Ruka spelled out. I shook my head minutely, smiling softly at her. She sighed a bit before dipping her head once and returning to her customer, whom now that I observed him more closely, was very intoxicated and about to fall over. I held off on asking anything at the moment, choosing to set a leisurely pace down the hallway to Lily's office.

"Word of advice, Lily-san is _very_ open, persuasive… and mildly terrifying. Just don't do anything that'll get you on her bad side, or else you might find yourself banned from half the whorehouses in Konoha and a few bars as well," I cautioned, already opening the door. I didn't knock, Lily gave me permission to enter straightaway for whatever reason I may have, so knocking would only have irritated her. She gave the same courtesy to everyone else in the House, but there was an unspoken rule of leaving personal rooms alone. Another reason why I loved the work I did for them. They were nice, good people who didn't let their jobs define them.

"Kura-chan, if you would explain to me right now why two members of the Uchiha Clan are in my office," Lily demanded bluntly, skipping over all the greetings completely.

"Should I be worried about some dark memory in your past involving the Uchiha Police Force?" I asked warily. Being straightforward was the best option to dealing with Lily.

"Oh no, I haven't got anything against their clan or the Police Force. In fact, one of my better nights was with a Uchiha. Now that was a conquest I don't mind thinking back on," Lily sighed, leaning her head in an open palm as a lewd smirk curved her lips. I could hear someone, Shisui most likely, shifting awkwardly behind me. Or maybe it was Itachi, Shisui seemed really confident, blades drawn, and not at all about to get squicked over sex. I couldn't get a good read on Itachi though.

" **He's even less responsive than his brother, and that's saying something. Maybe he's part Aburame too. At least Sasuke shows emotions. This guy's emotions are at the level of a rock's,"** Inner snarked, blowing out a breath in annoyance that gave me a bit of a mental mind tickle.

"While I would love to hear more about you and him and whatever else you did- which I can guess, please don't elaborate in front of the people related to whomever you fucked-" Lily cut me off with a raise of her eyebrows and a slight snicker.

"Oh no dearest Kura-chan. Not 'him'. ' _Her_ '. And the things she could do, and most definitely _did_ do with her tongue. Ohhhhh~" Lily moaned, her lips forming a small 'O'. "Sinful, sinful things. Don't worry though Kura-chan, I returned the favor eagerly. _Very_ eagerly," She winked at me, although I got the feeling it was more directed at 'us'.

Someone behind me shifted again, Inner sighed, I coughed politely, and we were back to our original conversation.

"Lily-san, let's talk about you and _her_ eating each other out some other time. Maybe when her clansmen aren't quite literally here, I think they're uncomfortable. Hell, I'm probably the most comfortable one listening to your sexual escapades at this point… and Ruka-nee-san's… and Emiko-nee-san's… and Natsu-nee-san's… and... Well fuck, you guys enjoy corrupting me a lot now don't you. At least Kiko-nee-san keeps it to herself," I groaned, rubbing at my temples tiredly.

" **Better get to the point or else we'll be stuck here for a while longer,"** Inner sing songed.

"You know what, I didn't come in here for this. Just checking in with you so I can go home with my mind at ease. Anyone I need to beat up? No? Alright, these two, as you have already recognized, are Uchihas. More accurately, Itachi Uchiha and Shisui Uchiha. Itachi-san is the first son from the main family, Shisui-san is Shunshin no Shisui, so now you know who to interrogate first if my body turns up missing tomorrow! Great, we're gonna go hit my sake stash now, give the ladies my love Lily-san, see you another time," Spinning on my heel, I marched out of the room with the two men following after me, absentmindedly noting that Ruka and her customer had left the table. About a block away outside, I dropped my henge.

Halfway to my house, Shisui spoke up.

"So, uh, interesting place you… know about," He commented awkwardly.

"Yup, but on the bright side, I don't ever need to be given The Talk because sex is a thing and the nee-san's actively engage in it daily. Sometimes very loudly, and very descriptively," I took a bit of vindictive pleasure in hearing Shisui splutter for an appropriate answer.

"Along with an endless stash of condoms, pads, and tampons in their supply closet," I commented leisurely, enjoying the awkward silence behind me. Lily had already told me I was free to nearly everything except the food without permission.

"Not to mention how I've been offered by several of the ladies to help pop my lesbian cherry when I decide to-" Inner snorted as Shisui started coughing violently.

"I'm sorry, does talking about me having a gay lesbian orgy make you uncomfortable?" I asked, pausing to turn and blink my eyes at them innocently with a smile. Inner was chortling at this point.

"Just… I think I really need that sake now," Shisui groaned in reply, shoulders slumping in defeat. I vaguely noted Itachi wasn't answering or looking at either of us. He seemed to nod at someone, but my attention was pulled away before I could check.

"Lucky for you then, this is my apartment. We can enter through the window, and yes I already know how to climb vertical things with chakra, it was in a scroll of chakra exercises Iruka-sensei lent me," Leaving them with those words of comfort, I began the trek up the side of my apartment building, going along the route I had gone many times before.

"Itachi, I'm going to get wasted tonight, don't even try to stop me," I faintly heard Shisui declare beneath me.

"I'll make sure you don't cause too much property damage again," Itachi replied. I hid a giggle at that, Inner outright laughing at them.

"I wonder what they're like when they're drunk," I mused quietly to myself.

" **Maybe we can rope them into strip poker after a few cups. I wouldn't mind some new victims,"** Inner suggested with a wicked laugh right after.

"It is kinda funny when we make them 'buy' back their clothes afterwards… Alright then, strip poker it is. I'll even break in that new deck of cards for them," I let my lips curve into a smile as I reached the window to my bedroom (fifth floor, balcony with a slightly chipped railing jutting out), disabling the _very_ expensive seal I had coughed up nearly half a year's worth of ryo for, but worth it in my opinion. Anyone trying to enter who didn't have my exact chakra code got zapped, big time.

Swinging inside my room, I took in the view of a single futon in the corner, a stack of books next to it, a cardboard box that acted as my closet in the corner, and the door removed from its hinges because of rust. A floral patterned curtain stood in as my only protection from any intruders through the hallway, swept and clipped to the side.

"Wow, your room is sad," Shisui commented blandly from behind me. I tensed, half in not having heard him enter (no doubt Itachi was in my room now too), and half in annoyance.

That sucker was going to cough up big bucks if he wanted his pants back later.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"I don't like them," I whispered to the empty living room, a faint smile on my lips as Shisui rinsed out his mouth in the bathroom with Itachi helping him. A spider had crawled into his sake cup earlier without him noticing. This led to a hilarious scene involving spider abuse, swear words, and a load of laughter.

" **It's definitely not right. Why are they so interested in us? Besides being on a team with his brother, there's really no reason as to why Itachi's here now. Shisui's more of a wildcard though. He may honestly be here for the shits and giggles,"** Inner sighed in frustration, blowing out a deep breath in my mental landscape that made me shiver a bit.

I rubbed my bare shoulders, the tank-top I wore doing little to keep me warm. Itachi had won off my two ninja sandals and one of Shisui's, Shisui got my beloved hoodie and Itachi's outershirt that left him in a short sleeve, but I had been more brutal, taking Itachi's sandals, the remaining sandal Shisui _used to_ have, Shisui's pants (his boxers had little Uchiha fans over them and I may have laughed for longer than I should have at that), and Itachi's hair tie. The last thing was currently used to tie my bangs up into an impromptu, mini ponytail above my head.

I took another sip of my sake, checking in the cup for spiders beforehand. There was only one bathroom, and the kitchen sink didn't have very clean tap water. Amidst the noises of Shisui gurgling water, I continued my chat with me.

"I screwed up today," I stated calmly, rolling the ceramic cup between my palms and watching the liquid inside shudder and ripple with miniature waves.

" **Yup. Your persona fell, congrats Kura-chan, you screwed the fuck up. Now we have to deal with people who know we actually have, ugh, emotions. Almost as if they expected us to not be human, can you fucking imagine that,"** Inner growled sarcastically. I sighed, moving to lay down on the fuzzy carpet across my living room floor. It wasn't a good kind of 'fuzzy' either, short, scratchy, and with a very disturbing stain in the corner by the large window.

"Maybe we won't need the persona around the team," I murmured almost too quietly for even myself to hear.

" **Kura-chan, half the time I can't tell whether you're an optimist or a pessimist. Do you expect things to go our way or not? And more importantly, do you want them too?"** Inner questioned with a deep sigh.

"Chaos is always more fun… but yeah, sometimes all I really want is a warm meal and more blankets around me and someone- _anyone_ really- to smile at me and tell me I did a good job," I admitted to the still all-too-empty living room.

" **That's why I've been walling up your emotional responses for the last three years. I'm letting them trickle out now though, so if you feel the urge to scream or cry or laugh hysterically at random things, don't worry, it's just you,"** Inner informed me with glee.

"Fun. Alright, I guess it's time to make them leave. We've gone through two of my nine best bottles, wow. To be fair, I probably drank one all by myself," I slowly stood up, vertigo messing with my balance.

And the sake too. That was probably messing with my balance too.

I wasn't _drunk_ drunk, just kinda tipsy, but hey, it'd be a long night if I tried to get absolutely shitfaced drunk. The cons and pros of having a weird double layered chakra system in your head that connected to your physical body's breakdown process. At least that's what I think Inner is. Whatever she, I, _we_ are, the basics are probably something along the lines of my body breaks down stuff faster because my brain sends 'double' messages to my organs.

I think.

" **Stop thinking then. Now go and kick those two out of our home. Set back up the seal before we sleep. C'mon, let's go,"** Inner prodded impatiently, a slight shiver passing through me as she slurred her words slightly. I began the trek down the hallway to the bathroom door, a headache starting to eat away at me. Strange, Inner usually took care of those.

"Itachi-san, Shisui-san, regardless of how amusing it is to destroy you in cards, I need to sleep in preparation for the genin test tomorrow. It's almost one, please leave. And don't forget your clothes," I told them, leaning a shoulder against the doorframe.

The bathroom was already barely big enough to fit both of them at once, along with adding in the partially deformed tub I had shoved inside to fit very snug and tight against the sink. At least there was still room for a towel rack behind the door. (At least I was only one person in this small-but-too-large-too-empty apartment).

"No words of comfort for me Kura-chan?" Shisui asked with a pout and a flutter of his eyelashes. Those eyelashes were ridiculously long, so not fair how pretty they are. Inner prodded me again, a sway in her, mine, our movement.

"No, now get out. Shoo. I need to sleep. Just go shunshin or something, I'm reactivating the seal in my room," I bit back a whimper and groan as I pushed off the doorframe, absentmindedly noting the flaking wallpaper around it.

" **Told you, emotional whiplash. For the rest of your life. Have fun with this one Kura-chan, bet you're gonna start regretting never learning how to deal with feelings."**

"Thank you for inviting us over Haruno-san," Itachi intoned politely with a nod of his head. He had drunk maybe a fourth of the other bottle with Shisui polishing off the other three fourths.

"Yeah, Kura-chan, this was fun. Can't wait until you're old enough to return the favor at an actual bar," Shisui grinned at me, reaching out a hand and ruffling up my hair.

"Uh-huh. Now please leave, your clothes are outside, don't worry about the cups and stuff, I'll clean up later," I told them, stifling a yawn and having to rapidly blink away the emerging tears right after.

It was a long five minutes before they finally left with shunshin. I made sure my window had its seal reactivated, put back on my hoodie, and picked up the bottles and sake cups before returning to my room with the curtain drawn.

Then I broke.

"This team's going to be a disaster. Inner, Inner, I don't think we're going to get out of this unscatched, and this is past the whole 'return in a bodybag' thing, I already knew about those percentages, but I can't handle, handle…" I inhaled a shuddering breath, pressing myself into the corner of my room, hoping Inner would fill in the blanks I couldn't vocalize.

" **You can't fucking handle normal human contact, that's a shitty-ass hand to be dealt. Looks like you've used up all your luck on cards earlier. And we didn't even get any money off of them, nope, you had to freeze up after Shisui patted your head and suddenly it was cards 'for fun'. Which you've never done before. What the actual fuck Kura-chan,"** Inner said flatly as I continued to shiver.

"This might break us," I whispered softly, a smile creeping up my lips despite me discouraging it.

"This may break us and all I can think about is how nice Shisui was towards me and how it felt to share smirks with Itachi when Shisui did something stupid again and I, I-" I froze, the smile still curving my lips. Tears started gathering in my eyes, this was such an annoyance, crying twice in a day over such similar things.

"I'm so fucking scared."

" **Go to sleep Kura-chan, we'll deal with this tomorrow,"** Inner directed in a kind tone. I nodded absently, pulling my blanket over me as I lay down.

" **Don't cry Kura-chan, if you cry now then you'll wake up with crusty eyelids. Dream of happy things Kura-chan, dream and sleep now,"** A whisper floated through my mind, Inner covering my thoughts with a layer of 'tired'.

"And tomorrow we'll become genin," I told myself quietly, unwilling to break the silence that had fallen over my apartment.

"Genin… in a genin team...," I sighed, rolling over onto my side and curling up to huddle under the too thin blanket.

"I'm so fucking scared," I admitted with a stuttering laugh, just as sleep claimed me.

* * *

 **Hey there dear readers, quick explanation on the weird way I update: I'm actually making sure I always have the next chapter typed up before I update the previous.**

 **Also, no beta, all these mistakes and typos are mine.**

 **Ummm, I think that about covers everything. Next chapter will have more worldbuilding and third character perspectives, I get that my summary sucks, but there's a limit on how much I can share in a freaking summary. :D**

 **Thank you for all the lovely reviews, they really keep me on track. :3c**


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